Reserved Area

Kimbo Ice Cream

Branding Design

Challenge

Kimbo is a well-known brand of Italian coffee and coffee related products. Unilever is a brand producing a wide variety of products from household care to ice cream to popsicles. We were challenged to design the packaging for two new products, developed as a result of a partnership between KIMBO and Unilever. We created a packaging system for an in-home multipack of the existing Kimbo coffee ice cream cup and Bon Bon product. While one is an individual cup of ice cream to replace your coffee, the latter is a small chocolate-covered ball of ice cream designed to accompany your coffee.

In addition to the more traditional coffee presentations, they have developed a coffee ice cream, sold in multipacks of small cups for home. But, they haven’t stopped simply at coffee-flavoured ice cream. Also, Kimbo makes what they call, Kimbo BonBon. This cup contains balls of coffee ice cream, coated in chocolate. This small treat is designed to have the effect of espresso. We were challenged with the package design of these frozen coffee products, while maintaining the integrity of the trusted Kimbo brand.

Solution

Kimbo has been a successful coffee brand in Italy for a long time. They sell many coffee variants or intensities, and products, both in-home and out-of-home. When taking an in-home product to sell in a multipack, it became important to not lose the identity of the product while also creating something fresh and contemporary. The Kimbo brand has a distinct look and feel overall which was also necessary to take into account within the packaging. When designing the system, we wanted to capture a feeling of modern contrast. Utilizing the existing packaging of the coffee ice cream cup as a base, we evolved the Vesuvius image and the background coffee bean pattern to be more clean and simplistic. The hand drawn chalk effect creates a more welcoming feeling, inviting the package into the shopping cart and ultimately, into the home of the customers. The colours of the brand remain in tact but are used in a more sophisticated way. The high contrast black and white pattern creates a relevant, structured backdrop for the packs while the bold black centre alludes to the boldness of the coffee and flavours in the product. This centred strip also gives a comfortable space to house all of the necessary content while not overwhelming the consumer with a full black package. The gold elements communicate the more premium aspect of these products and also give contrast to certain messages that may otherwise feel lost.
The in-home multipack box features a packshot of the individual cup, turning the ice cream into your cup of coffee with the warm hand drawn elements as well as the saucer underneath. This concept also enhances the message “con tutto il gusto del caffè espresso,” with all the flavour of café espresso, and the idea that this product will replace your coffee rather than be in addition to it. The soft image of the coffee beans on the plate is reminiscent of traditional packs of coffee and will be an eye-catching element on the freezer shelves next to other ice cream packages on the market.
On the Bon Bon package, the product shot features an explosion of coffee beans. This is meant to be an unconventional way to differentiate from existing packaging. This shares the style and structure of the multipack but on a different container. The similar packages show a contrast between other Kimbo and Unilever products, allowing this new look to be a highlight of the new partnership of these two brands.